LOUISA COUNTY, IOWA

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Louisa, though the smallest county in the state, and containing one hundred and fifteen thousand acres less than the average, has a history, which, in some respects, is fully as important, and, in most respects, is as well worth preserving as that of any of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is a matter of keen regret, that the importance of preserving our local history, has not only never been properly recognized, but has often been entirely lost sight of. For many years after the settlement, and even long after the organization of the county, we had no newspaper here, and because of neglect on the one hand, and destructive fires on the other, we now have only fragmentary files of such newspapers as were published. The early settlers were too busy making history to give much time, or take much thought, toward recording or preserving it, and so it happens that, while the affairs of the county from the very beginning were transacted in a fairly businesslike manner, and while we have much important and interesting matter concerning the official doings of those early days, it is still a lamentable fact that many papers and documents which must have at one time been among the county archives are missing, nor are they to be found in print. Beginning with the entry of the late John Hale, and soon after of W. S. Kremer, into the service of the county, much greater care was taken toward recording official transactions, and preserving official papers. The writer has heard Mr. Hale describe the almost indescribable confusion in which he found the papers in the clerk's office when he entered it—all kinds of documents in the same pigeon hole without any order or system, papers of all kinds and dates piled upon the tables and scattered upon chairs or on the floor, or thrown in the corners of the room—and most of the old files which we still have show us, by the labels in his own handwriting, that it was John Hale who sorted and saved them, and they still remind us how greatly we are indebted to his thoughtfulness and care. It is hoped that those who peruse this history will, if they should find it "full of omissions," charge at least a part of them to circumstances which cannot now be remedied.

Other omissions there will be, due to various causes. Some of these omissions will be due to the failure of those who have important documents in their possession to make the fact known, and other omissions may be charged to the fact that this work is done amid the interruptions of business, and because of the anxiety of the publishers to complete, and of many of the subscribers to receive the promised history. One could easily spend years in making a detailed investigation of any one of the several subjects presented by the history of a county created three quarters of a century ago, and within whose borders is the historic spot where, more than a century and a half before the county existed was held the first council between the white man and the red man in the valley of the ...

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... mighty Mississippi. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this work will pass for an attempt at a County History, and even this could not be claimed for any previous publication concerning Louisa county. The work done by O. I. Jamison, published in the Columbus Junction Gazette in 1906 and 1907 is of very great value, and would have been far more so if his health and life had been spared to complete it as he had planned. Most of the writings which have heretofore passed for county histories are so inaccurate that they often hinder more than they help, although considerable valuable material has been taken, after making some corrections, from the County Album published in 1889 by the Acme Publishing Company. A sample of quite a number of mistakes in that work is its statement that John Bevins was the first postmaster of Wapello, when in fact he was never postmaster here at all.

As stated in the prospectus, the chief energies of the writer of this work have been devoted to a study of the early days, of the things which happened, and the men who lived, forty or fifty years ago, or more. These events and the men who were concerned in them are not only of much greater interest and importance, historically, than those of a later date, but their history is much more difficult to secure; besides, the later events, even if important, can hardly be said to have passed into history, and the accounts of them are comparatively accessible.

This work contains a number of important tables or groups of facts, some of which will be found in the body of the work and some in the Appendix. Attention is called to the list of Charters, Laws, Treaties, etc., which bear upon our County history. If, as was said by one of Iowa's noted constitution makers "Law is history," then the table of laws and charters ought alone to justify this publication. The material for it has been taken from official publications, and from Dr. Thorp's "American Charters, Constitutions and Organic Laws" and Dr. Shambaugh's "Documentary Material Relating to Iowa History," both of which are official to students of history.

Another list which will be found in Chapter X contains the names of the county officials from the organization of the county to the present time; also senators and representatives and other kindred information. This was a very difficult list to prepare and it is possible that some errors may be found in it, although great pains have been taken in its preparation.

In the chapter on the Military history of the county will be found an alphabetical list of all the soldiers who enlisted from Louisa county during the war of the Rebellion, so far as could be learned.

For the most part, an effort has been made to merely state the facts of our county history in a plain and unvarnished way. In the preparation of this work, two serious difficulties have been encountered, one was to know what should be included and what should be left out. Another was to know how to arrange and in what chapters to put the things that were included. It goes without saying, that many people would have excluded things which have been made use of, and would have included many of those that have been left out. This is a matter of judgment upon which the author is by no means infallible.

The liberality of the publishers has been such that nearly every known source of information concerning our early history has been sought out.

The author is under obligations to Hon. E. R. Harlan, Curator of the State Historical Department, and to Hon. Johnson Brigham, State Librarian; to John ...

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... M. Helmick, Esq. of Davenport; to Rev. T. O. Douglas of Grinnell; and to present and former residents of Louisa county too numerous to mention, though it is proper to say that special thanks are due to Mrs. J. L. Kent, Mrs. Martha McDill, J. R. Smith, Ed. Hicklin, Col. J. W. Garner, Oscar Hale, W. S. Kremer and N. W. McKay. Special thanks are also due to Hon. C. A. Kennedy for his persistent and successful efforts in getting information from the government records at Washington. But, to those who are familiar with recent developments in Iowa Historical research, it will be readily believed that the greatest assistance has come from the publications of the Iowa State Historical Society at Iowa City, and from the writings of Dr. B. F. Shambaugh, facile princeps among Iowa historians. The library of the Iowa State Historical Society is a wonderful mine of information, and Dr. Shambaugh and his assistants have explored it so thoroughly, and are so uniformly accommodating, that he who seeks information there needs but "ask and he shall receive."

Because of relationship to some, and an intimate acquaintance with many of those who reared our county structure, this work has been largely a labor of love, my chief regret being that I have not had more time and leisure to devote to it.

ARTHUR SPR1NGER.

WAPELLO, IOWA, January —, 1912.

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